(MCT) — ST. PAUL, Minn. — Three months before U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens died when suspected Islamist militants stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul Anderson, in Libya under the auspices of the American Bar Association to advise on rebuilding the country’s justice system, paid a courtesy call to the U.S. embassy in Tripoli.

Stevens, Anderson remembered in a recent interview, gave his visitor a sobering security rundown. Still, the ambassador encouraged Anderson to get out and mingle with Libyans. The judge recalled noticing how little protection the embassy in Tripoli had compared to those in other restive countries he’d visited on similar bar association assignments.